viii PREFACE 



but should unquestionably next be done. Nor does the present bibli- 

 ography treat exhaustively the vast fields in which Fishes come in 

 touch with markets, table or angling, for these are special domains, 

 less in scientific interest, yet each with its large circle of readers and 

 worthy of a separate bibliography. Wo note that even without in- 

 cluding these themes the lists here considered number over forty 

 thousand titles. 



The present work, it may be explained, is an outcome of my stud>' 

 of the literature of Fishes in connection with my investigations in vari- 

 ous branches; it began in 1890 in the form of an index to references, 

 and by 1900 included about twenty thousand cards. There was then 

 no distinct plan to publish it. But about this time my students and 

 correspondents came to realize that it contained a mass of material 

 which served them conveniently in their work. And in return for the 

 use of the index they sometimes contributed generous lists of refer- 

 ences. And in various other ways the bibliography grew. Thus 

 Geheimrath von Kupffer in Munich allowed me the use of his exten- 

 sive references to the embryology of Fishes. My preceptor Dr. A. 

 Bohm added many titles, especially in the literature of Cyclostomes, 

 as did also Dr. L. Neumayer of the Anatomical Institute of Munich. 

 In 1910 the Smithsonian Institution gave willing access to the index 

 which had been laboriously prepared by and under the direction of 

 Professor G. Brown Goode, whose lamented death cut short his 

 project of preparing an ichthyological bibHography on somewhat the 

 present lines. I am indebted, also, to Dr. F. J. Cole of Birmingham 

 for valued assistance, for he, again, had planned a work which should 

 serve the needs of students. . . . Thus it came about that my bibH- 

 ography outgrew its original purpose. It had become a storehouse of 

 references which should be made accessible to workers generally. 



But evidently it could not be published in the state in which it then 

 stood. It needed additions and revision in large measure before it 

 could safely be sent to press. First of all it would have to be compared 

 title for title with earlier bibliographies, notably with Bosgoed's list 

 of ichthyological writings (1874). Its findings were also to be checked 

 against such standards as the Zoological Record, Carus and Engel- 

 mann, Louis Agassiz's bibHography (1848-1854) and the cards of the 

 Concilium Bibliographicum. Then, too, many of its titles needed, for 

 reason of clearness, to be compared with the original publications. By 

 this means errors were to be avoided and new references discovered. 

 Finally, and for the more recent Hterature, the effort was to be made to 

 induce the many writers in this field to contribute their lists of publi- 

 cations, or to revise their bibliographies when furnished them. 



It was in 1910 that my index reached a critical stage in its develop- 

 ment. It had become an unwieldy enterprise — too large to be carried 

 on single-handed, yet too valuable to be abandoned. Then it was, at 

 the instance of President Henry Fairfield Osborn, that the American 



